1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to protective housings for electrically and non-electrically conducting elongated members, and, more particularly, to a non-corrugated protective tubular housing for wires (including cables) that substantially prevents deleterious bending, crimping, coiling, kinking, and/or other damaging forces from shortening the effective lifespan of the wire and any attached components.
2. Description of Prior Art
Wires are electrical conductors that are used to carry electricity and other signals including digital, optical, audio, video and telephonic signals. A cable usually includes more than one wire bundled together. Wires, whether they are used, for example, to connect headphones to an audio/video device, speakers to a receiver, cable from a cable box to a T.V., telephonic headset to a telephonic base, or a mouse to a computer, have a tendency to bend, crimp, coil and/or kink, and inconveniently tangle. These wires also may be subjected to other damaging forces such as from wheels on chair legs. These damaging forces result in deleterious effects to the wires such as shorts, and a permanent defect in the wire. Due to the permanent damage to the wire, consumers are forced to purchase replacement wires (and, potentially, any attached components), which is often an expensive proposition.
An illustrative example relates to the use of USB wires to connect digital radiography sensors to a computer in the field of dentistry. Instead of using traditional x-ray photographic film to obtain images of a patient's teeth, more dentists and clinicians are using digital x-ray sensors to capture and store these images. Digital radiography is a process that uses digital x-ray sensors to obtain and convert x-ray images into electronic data that can be viewed and analyzed by a clinician on a computer monitor as well as electronically stored.
Digital radiography requires communication between the digital sensor (in the form of a “plate”) that is placed in a patient's mouth, and the digital information storage device (e.g., a computer). This communication can be facilitated either wirelessly or through USB wire that connects the digital sensor to the computer. In a non-wireless configuration, the sensor's wire is housed in electric tubing which fits tightly against the wire. When x-rays hit the sensor's plate inside a patient's mouth, the information is digitized and sent to the computer via the wire. The software programs converts the information to images, which can be read and interpreted by the dentist.
One of the most common problems with the digital x-ray sensors that are not wireless is the damage of the wire due to bending, crimping, coiling, and/or kinking during operation of the digital sensor. Upon such bending, crimping, coiling, and/or kinking, the wire can become shorted. This short essentially results in sensor failure, cutting off any effective transmission of information from the sensor to the computer.
With the current design of the sensor's wire, bending, crimping, coiling, and/or kinking is inevitable. Due to this inevitability, the life span of the wired sensors is very short and unpredictable.
The prior art provides corrugated tubes that are used for bundling and protecting transmission/distribution wires harnesses (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,488,053). These corrugated tubes include annular ridges on the outer peripheral face of the tube to impart a bendability or flexibility to the corrugated tube. Corrugated tubes, however, have a tendency to bend, coil, and tangle upon themselves during operational use resulting in deleterious effects to the wires housed within the corrugated tubes (as discussed supra). Corrugated tubes are typically indicated to cover cables which are expected to be substantially stationary. However, these tubes are not usually indicated for covering cables that are under constant movement (changing position and/or location) dictated by operational needs, e.g., manipulation of one end of the cable by a person or machinery (especially for cables expected not to tangle, bind, brake continuity or function of internal components). Also, corrugated tubes are not easily disinfected and are not meant to be used in a medical environment where highly sanitized medical equipment is a high priority; debris easily gets lodged into the corrugations and are difficult to sanitize and disinfect between use on different patients.
Similarly to the electrical conductors discussed above, non-electrical conductors such as a hose, rope, and the like, have a tendency to bend, crimp, coil and/or kink, and inconveniently tangle. These non electrical conductors also may be subjected to other damaging forces such as car and bicycle wheels resulting in permanent damage to the non-electrical conductor. As with permanent damage to wires noted supra, this permanent damage requires consumers to purchase replacement non-electrical conductors (and, potentially, any attached components).
Accordingly, it would be useful and desirable to have a protective device for wires (e.g., digital radiography imaging wires) to prevent them from bending, crimping, coiling, and/or kinking, as well as prevent the wires from being subjected to any other damaging force, thereby extending the effective life of the wire and any attached components (e.g., digital radiography sensor). In addition, it would be useful and desirable for such a device to be quickly and easily attached to and detached from the wire. Also, it would be useful and desirable to have a protective device for wires that can be easily sanitized and disinfected. Moreover, it would be useful and desirable to have a protective device for non electrical conductors with the same qualities.